terça-feira, 13 de abril de 2010

Atma-Vichara

''The Maharshi tells all earnest seekers of the truth:

At every stage and for everything you say ‘I’, ‘I’; you say, ‘I
want to know this’, ‘I feel this’, ‘I think this’, and so on. Ask
yourself who this ‘I’ is, whence this ‘I’ thought proceeds, what
is its source; keep your mind firmly fixed on this thought to the
exclusion of all other thoughts, and the process will lead you
sooner or later to the realisation of your Self.
The method is simply this: you ask yourself ‘Who am I?’
and try to keep your whole mind concentrated on getting an
answer to that question. True, various thoughts will arise
unbidden within you and assault you and try to divert your
attention. For all these thoughts, however, the ‘I’ thought is the
source and sustenance. So, as each thought arises, without
allowing it to go on developing itself, ask who gets this thought.
The answer will be ‘I’. Then ask yourself, “Who is this ‘I’ and
whence”? The Maharshi says, “Don’t be discouraged by the
variety and multitude of the thoughts which seek to distract
you. Follow the above method with faith and hope and you
will surely succeed”. And he gives an illustration:
You besiege a fort. As one soldier after another comes out,
you cut each down with your sword. When you have thus killed
the last soldier, you capture the fort. Till all thoughts are
destroyed they will keep coming out. But kill them all with the
sword, ‘Who am I?’, and finally the fortress will be yours. It is
not by simply muttering the words ‘Who am I?’ to oneself that
one can gain the end. A keen effort of the mind, complete
introversion of all the faculties, total absorption in the quest
wherefrom the ‘I’ springs — all this is needed for success.''
In Ramana Smrti